The present invention relates generally to a tooth-cleaning device, and more particularly to a dental flossing tool.
The conventional manual dental flossing technique involves winding a length of dental floss around the first finger of each hand, drawing the floss taught between the fingers, and positioning one finger partially in the mouth and the other finger outside the mouth such that the floss can be gently guided between the teeth using the fingers and thumbs. The dental floss is held under tension against the surface of a tooth and guided slightly below the gum line. A vertical scraping motion is made on the side of each tooth to remove bacterial plaque and food particles lodged between the teeth and under the surface of the gums.
A variety of tools have been devised to assist in the dental flossing process. Typically, they embody means for suspending a short length of dental floss under tension. Heretofore-known dental flossing tools are intended to aid the user in cleaning difficult-to-reach teeth. However, problems encountered in using such tools or using the conventional manual technique are that the face and lips must often be stretched or distorted significantly to gain access to the tooth target areas where flossing is desired. In addition, heretofore-known flossing devices tend to obstruct or interfere with viewing of the flossing activity in the target area by the user. Furthermore, such tools tend to interfere with both the tongue and the cheek during flossing. Particularly difficult areas to floss are those between the second bicuspids and the molars in the upper and lower jaw. It is often difficult to apply and control the proper amount of force in the desired direction to achieve flossing activity which satisfactorily cleans the teeth without damaging gingival tissue.